1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to tools for incoming inspection and installation of plastic pipe, particularly for fluid transmission.
2. Prior Art
The days of cast-iron pipe, with rigid dimensions, have passed in fluid distribution systems for utilities, such as heating gas distributors. Today, plastic pipes are universally used. They are cheaper, can be joined by simple heating techniques and deteriorate at a much slower pace than metal pipes. However, plastic pipes are much less rigid than cast-iron pipes and when wound, as they are, into large coils for transportation and storage, they tend to become oval, rather than circular, in cross-section. If the ovality of a pipe becomes excessive, it cannot be joined with another pipe in the course of installing a distribution network. Since thousands of feet of pipe may be involved in an installation, unusable pipe results in an unnecessary and unacceptable expense. Thus, the burden is shifted to the incoming inspection and quality control departments of producers and large scale users of plastic pipe. Ovality and wall thickness must be checked before the pipe is sent out into the field and at the time a joinder to another pipe is attempted in the field.
Further, with the use of electrical heating elements to couple pipes together it is necessary that the edge of the pipe be chamfered so that it slips easily inside the coupler or fitting which joins it to the next pipe.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a single tool which can be used to perform multiple functions on plastic pipes both at the receiving and storing point and in the field.